Law Suit Filed Against the City of Savannah

8/12/2019 Law Suit Filed Against the City of Savannah

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IN THE S UP ERIOR COURT OF CHATHAM COUNTYSTATE OF GEORGI ACHRIS TOP HER S HELNUIT;FRED S. ALLEN ;BARR Y R. ARNOLD JR. ;JOSEPH F. BAND Y I I I;ROBERT BARK SDAL E;W ILLIAM P. BARRETT JR. ;KEN BETHUN E;JAMES B. BLAND;GLENN W . BRAN TLEY JR. ;JACK R. BRIDGEN I I;O R O N N B R O W N ;LEWIS C. BUTLER;CHARL ES CAMPBEL L ;SAM COPPOLA;KEVAN 0 . CARTER;ROBERT CRIBB;MICHA EL DAVIS;THOM AS J . DENT;MICHA EL DICK;VERNON EATON ;STEVEN L. FLOYD ;JEFFREY E. GOLDM AN JR. ;WILLIAM S. GOOLSBY ;IRA W . HARPER JR. ;JOHN HINLEY;MA RION P. HOW ARD I I I;R O Y H O W A R D ;WILLIAM S. HOW ARD JR. ;HAYW ANT C. JOHNSON JR. ;THOMA S W . L EIGHTY;MI CHAEL MARTI N;JACK R. McCUTC HEN JR. ;MICHA EL J . METIVIER;OW EN J . MONRO E;IRVING NICHO LS;ANDRAS OLISER;CHA RLES L. PEEK JR. ;DANIEL PRIDGEON;JEREMY L. RALSTON ;JOSEPH T. SHAW ;KEITH A . SISCO;MICHA EL J . TAY LOR;JONATHAN L . THOM AS;

CIVIL ACTION N O.- 03a.s-b-4(-1


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MARV IN THOMAS;M I C H A E L V A N D E R C O O K ;PETER J . W ALKE R;CURTIS W ASD IN;S T E P H E N W A U G H ;K Y L E W E A V E R ;MICHA EL A. W HITE;

)Plaintiffs,vs,

1 1 1 1 1 V A R 3 1 P 2 1 4

c sa Pd\

T H E C I T Y O F S A V A N N A H ,G EORG IA; STEPHAN IE CU I ER,as the City M anager of theCity of Savannah,)Defendants.

VERIFIED CLASS ACTION COM PLAINTCO M E N OW , Plaintiffs Christopher Shelnutt et al ., individually and on behalf of

all other similarly situated emp loyees of the City of Sav annah B ureau of Fire andEm ergency Services, and file this Com plaint against the D efendant City based on theallegations set forth below.

JURISDICTION AND VEN UE

The Defendant CITY O F SAV AN NA H (the Ci ty ) i s a duly incorporatedmun icipality located primarily in Chatham C ounty, Georgia. The City is subject to thejurisdiction of this court, and m ay be served w ith this Com plaint and Su mm ons via handdelivery to M ayor Edna B . Jackson.

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governing pay.8.

The City of Sav annah maintains records of each employee's wages and otherinformation as required by the State of G eorgia Records Retention Schedule and FL SA.

9.Savannah Hum an Resources Policy Number HR -010, III, C.1.c. in relevant part

states that, The promotional pay of an employee promoted to a non-exempt or exemptsupervisory position must be a minimum 5 % above the highest paid employee in thedepartment to be supervised...

10.All of the Plaintiffs are non-exem pt or exempt superv isors within the City of

Savannah Fire & Emergency Services Bureau.11.

Despite Savannah H uman Resources Policy M anual Number, there are numerousSavannah F ire & Emergency Serv ices uniformed firefighting subordinate employeeswhose annual salary is higher than their non-exempt or exem pt supervisors.

12.Upon information and belief, by way of example, as of the Savannah Fire &

Emergency Services pay plan dated July 1, 2008: (1) Employee #2 56 4, M aster FirefighterGene Linton's annual salary is $56,844.26; and (2) Employee #239, Master FirefighterJobe Gutierrez's annual salary is $58 ,000.00.

13.Upon inform ation and belief, none of the Plaintiffs annual salary is 5% higher

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than either Ma ster Firefighter Linton or M aster Firefighter Gu tierrez annual salary.14 .

Plaintiffs are not property compensated because the City Manager, or herdesignees, ignore applicable law and policy by fail ing to ensure that the City of S avannahHum an Resources Policy M anual is applied and enforced.

15.Rather than basing pay decisions on the City of Savannah H uman R esources

Policy M anual, the City Manag er, or her designees, determines pay based on personalfavoritism and bias.

CLASS ACTI O N ALLEG ATI O N16 .

This case is brought as a class act ion und er 0.C.GA . 9 -11-23. Plainti ffs seekrelief for the entire Class. The Class consists of all Sav annah B ureau of Fire andEmergency Services Fire Captains, excluding those Fire Captains not listed as Plaintiffs.

17.M embership in the C lass is believed to be approximately fifty (50) people and is

so numerous that separate joinder of each member is impracticable.18

There are q uestions of law and fact comm on to Plaintiffs and all Class Mem bers,including but not limited to the extent to wh ich the Savannah H uman R esources paypolicy is disregarded or av oided; the impact of d isregarding the pay policy on the C lassM embers; wh ether disregarding the pay policy requirements gives rise to the claimsasserted in this Complaint; and what remedies should be provided in the event the pay

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policy is properly applied to the Class Members.19.

The named Plaintiffs are members of the C lass described herein and their claimsare typical of the claims of the C lass, and Plaintiffs have no interest adve rse to theinterests of other Class Mem bers.

20.Plaintiffs will fairly and a deq uately protect the interests of the Class. Plaintiffs

are vitally interested in a having the S avannah H uman Resources pay p olicy properlyapplied to the C lass Mem bers. They are represented by c ounsel experienced andcompetent in the prosecution of complex litigation.

21.This action fully satisfied the conditions set forth in OCGA 9-11-2 X IXA),

9-11-23(b)(1X13), 9-11-23 (bX2) and 9-11-23 (bX3).COUNT 1VIOLATION OF STATUTORY OBLIGATION

22 .Pursuant to enabling legislation of the State of G eorgia, the City adopted an d

maintains a Civil Service System and Hu man R esources Policy Manual as a part of theCity's Ch arter, Code of O rdinances at all times relevan t to this action.

23 .Savan nah Fire & Em ergency Services Fire Captains all serve in the classified

service as that term is defined under the Savan nah Code of Ordinances, 3-3 05 and areeither non-exemp t or exempt supervisors.


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24.Plaint iff s are statutori ly ent it led to a p ay system, w hich is based solely up on m erit

and f i tness and the City of Savannah H uma n Resources Pol icy Manua l .25.

Defendan ts fa i led to comp ly with the City of Savann ah H um an Resource s PolicyManual by fai l ing to prop erly compen sate Plaint iff s promoted to non -exempt or e xemp tsupervisory posit ions 5% m ore than their subordinates. The Defendants thus breachedtheir statutory obligation to Plaintiffs.

COUNT H.BREACH OF CONTRACT

26.The foregoing provis ions in the law and the City of Savannah H um an Resources

Policy Manua l constitute a part of Plaintiffs' contra cts of em ploym ent with the City.27.

By fai l ing to comp ly with the City of Savanna h Hu ma n Resources Pol icy Manualby fa i l ing to prop erly comp ensate Pla int if fs , the City has breached i t s contractualobl igat ion to Plaint iff s . Plaint if f s are contractu al ly ent it led to a p ay system , whichcomports to the City of Savanna h H uma n Resources Pol icy Manua l .

COUNT 111VIOLATION OF EQUAL PROTECTION

28.Article I, Sec. 1, Paragrap h H of the Con stitution of the State of Georgia pr ovides

that Protection of person and property is the paramou nt duty of government and shal l be

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impartial and complete. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.29 .

By failing to verify the accuracy o f Plaintiffs pay or by ignoring the C ity ofSavan nah H uman Resources P olicy Man ual, the C ity failed to act impartially, to thedetriment of the Plaintiffs.

30.The re was no rational basis for the City's favoritism.

31 .The City's acts, as outlined herein, are inconsistent with principles of eq ual

protection and violate Article I, S ec. 1, Paragraph II of the C onstitution of the State ofGeorgia.

C O U N T IVA T T O R N E Y S F E E S

32 .The a cts of City officials set forth herein were unde rtaken in bad faith for the

purpose of benefitting persons favorable to the City Manager, thus authorizing an awardof reasonable attorneys fees and expenses to Plaintiffs pursuant to OC GA 13 -6-11 .

W HE RE FO RE , Plaintiffs prays that this Co urt award Plaintiffs the following

(a) Aw ard each Plaintiff and class mem ber back wag es from the date onwhich w as promoted to either an exemp t or non-exempt supervisoryposition to the present;

b) Order the Ci ty Manager to enforce H uman R esources Pol icy N umber HR -

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010,111, C.1 .c.(c) Award Plaintiffs and the C lass Members their reasonable attorneys fees

and expenses; and(d) Grant such additional and further relief as this Court deems just and

proper.This 31 day of March, 2014.

John D. Ilafemann (Ga B ar No. )6i / 3 1 4 K_ 3 21- / 5 2219 Scott Street, PMB 3 15Beaufort, South Carolina 299 02-55 54Telephone: 855.645.5878Fax: 843.64 5.6530

At torney for Plaintiffs

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Christo pher Shelnutt

, 0 , 0 t t

RIFICATIONI , Christopher Shelnutt , make this ver i f icat ion under oath and state that I am one

Of the Plaintiffs in this matter , that I hav e read th e foregoing Ve rif ied Class ActionComp laint and that I hereby verify that the a l legat ions of fact conta ined in sa id Complaintare true and corre

This /day of ril / 1 1 C 2014.

Documents

Law Suit Filed Against the City of Savannah